Conditions require cash aid to Somalia: Turkish foreign minister

Mareeg.com-Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said the lack of
banking infrastructure in Somalia has necessitated the provision of
direct cash aid from the Turkish government to the Somali government,
Hurriyet Daily News reported.

“No banking service is offered in
Somalia,” Davutoglu said, while emphasizing that the government of
Turkey had provided monthly payments of $4.5 million to the federal
government of Somalia in the second half of 2013. He added that this was
provided in order to lend support for budget expenditures, upon the
latter’s request.

“No cash aid is provided to Somalia other than
that,” Davutoglu said, in an official statement delivered in response to
a number of motions filed by opposition lawmakers.

“The aid has
been appropriately handed over to Somalia authorities via our Mogadishu
Embassy. Our direct aid was made in close cooperation with the Central
Bank of the Republic of Turkey and delivered to the Central Bank of
Somalia on account of required receipts and payment documents. Payments
were made in the presence of the President of the Central Bank of
Somalia, the Interior Minister of Somalia and the Finance Minister of
Somalia, and their signatures were put on payment documents as
witnesses. The federal government of Somalia has reported to our
ministry in detail as to where those sources were spent,” he said.

Davutoglu
also noted that the Turkish Embassy in Mogadishu was being protected
“at the highest level.” The internal security of the embassy premises is
provided by Special Forces of the Turkish police and neighborhood
security is provided by Somali intelligence agency forces, he adde